Poured Hot: Anthony Chen Adds Debut US-project “Heartbeat: A New York Story” to Busy Slate

He just premiered Drift at Sundance and mainland Chinese rom drama The Breaking Ice (among our most anticipated films for ’23) is in the can and ready for a major festival launch, and his next year plus ahead is pretty much booked. Providing Deadline with a major update on the next films that are on his slate and production co. slate, Anthony Chen will be moving into his US-set project debut which when all is said and done would be set for a 2025 premiere. Singaporean Joel Tan has adapted the short story for the screen.

Set for a possible 2024 shoot, Chen will base Heartbeat: A New York Story on a short story Tea For Two, by acclaimed Taiwanese writer Pai Hsien-yung. This will look at the rarely-told experiences of the Asian gay community during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York and work with obvious themes of grief but also self-discovery. Chen’s Giraffe Pictures will produce the film with Chinese producer Lou Ying’s Paradigm Shift Entertainment.

The globetrotting Chen will next direct his first Korean project in and then move onto We Are All Strangers – which is set up for a summer shoot. This film closes out the trilogy that began with Ilo Ilo and Wet Season. And we’re not done with the project updates – Chen is also currently scripting and plans to direct an as-yet-untitled family drama set in present-day Hong Kong. So we’re using one hand here – Chen has at least four projects in the works.